The Hanuman Chalisa is a forty-verse hymn to Hanuman, written by the poet-saint Tulsidas in the 16th century. Most people who recite it daily have never sat with what the words actually say. That is normal, and the recitation still works on its own terms, but the text rewards a slow read. It moves from an admission of the reciter's own limits, through Hanuman's deeds in the Ramayana, into a set of very direct promises about protection, healing, and freedom from fear.
This page gives the complete text in order: the two opening dohas, the forty numbered verses, and the closing doha. For each one you get the original line in Devanagari, a Roman transliteration so you can follow the sound, a plain English meaning, and a short explanation of what the verse is doing. The translations are meaning-based rather than word-for-word, which is standard for devotional commentary.
One note on the language. The Chalisa is in Awadhi, an old eastern form of Hindi, not Sanskrit. That is part of why it spread so widely. It was written to be sung by ordinary people, not recited by specialists.
Opening Doha 1
श्रीगुरु चरन सरोज रज, निज मनु मुकुरु सुधारि।
बरनउँ रघुबर बिमल जसु, जो दायकु फल चारि॥
śrīguru carana saroja raja, nija manu mukuru sudhāri / baranau raghubara bimala jasu, jo dāyaku phala cāri
With the dust of my Guru's lotus feet I polish the mirror of my mind, and then recount the pure glory of Rama, the glory that grants the four fruits of life.
The mind is treated as a dirty mirror. Only after the Guru's grace cleans it can it reflect anything true, so the hymn begins there rather than with Hanuman. The four fruits are dharma, artha, kama and moksha, the classical aims of a human life.
Opening Doha 2
बुद्धिहीन तनु जानिके, सुमिरौं पवनकुमार।
बल बुधि बिद्या देहु मोहिं, हरहु कलेस बिकार॥
buddhihīna tanu jānike, sumirau pavana-kumāra / bala budhi bidyā dehu mohiṁ, harahu kalesa bikāra
Knowing this body to be without intelligence, I remember the Son of the Wind. Grant me strength, intellect and knowledge, and remove my suffering and my faults.
Tulsidas opens by naming his own inadequacy. The request is not for wealth or status but for capacity: strength, discernment, learning, and release from inner defects. The whole hymn keeps this shape, asking for what builds a person rather than what decorates them.
Verse 1
जय हनुमान ज्ञान गुन सागर।
जय कपीस तिहुं लोक उजागर॥
jaya hanumāna jñāna guna sāgara / jaya kapīsa tihuṁ loka ujāgara
Victory to Hanuman, ocean of wisdom and virtue. Victory to the lord of the monkeys, who lights up all three worlds.
The opening frame. Hanuman is introduced first as knowledge and character, and only then as power. His light is said to reach every plane of existence, not just the earthly one.
Verse 2
रामदूत अतुलित बल धामा।
अंजनि-पुत्र पवनसुत नामा॥
rāmadūta atulita bala dhāmā / añjani-putra pavanasuta nāmā
Messenger of Rama, abode of immeasurable strength, known as the son of Anjani and the son of the Wind.
His identity is given through relationship and role. He is Rama's envoy first, and his parentage comes second. The order is deliberate.
Verse 3
महाबीर बिक्रम बजरंगी।
कुमति निवार सुमति के संगी॥
mahābīra bikrama bajaraṅgī / kumati nivāra sumati ke saṅgī
Great hero, valiant, with a body strong as the thunderbolt. You drive away wrong thinking and keep company with right thinking.
Bajrangi means vajra-limbed, built like Indra's thunderbolt. The second line gives his power a moral direction: it removes bad judgement and allies itself with good judgement.
Verse 4
कंचन बरन बिराज सुबेसा।
कानन कुंडल कुंचित केसा॥
kañcana barana birāja subesā / kānana kuṇḍala kuñcita kesā
Golden in colour, radiant, finely dressed, with rings in your ears and curly hair.
A verse built for meditation. It gives the reciter a concrete image to hold, which is easier to steady the mind on than an abstraction.
Verse 5
हाथ बज्र औ ध्वजा बिराजै।
कांधे मूंज जनेऊ साजै॥
hātha bajra au dhvajā birājai / kāndhe mūṁja janeū sājai
In your hands shine the mace and a banner; across your shoulder rests the sacred thread of munja grass.
Three symbols. The mace is the power to protect, the banner is the victory of dharma, and the sacred thread marks him as a learned, initiated being rather than only a fighter.
Verse 6
संकर सुवन केसरीनंदन।
तेज प्रताप महा जग बन्दन॥
saṅkara suvana kesarīnandana / teja pratāpa mahā jaga bandana
Offspring of Shankara, delight of Kesari, your brilliance and might are honoured by the whole world.
Tradition treats Hanuman as an aspect of Shiva, which is what "offspring of Shankara" points to. Kesari is his human father. Divine origin, universal reverence.
Verse 7
विद्यावान गुनी अति चातुर।
राम काज करिबे को आतुर॥
bidyāvāna gunī ati cātura / rāma kāja karibe ko ātura
Full of learning, virtuous, and very quick-witted, always eager to do Rama's work.
Capability and willingness in one line. Skill on its own is not the point; skill paired with the impulse to serve is.
Verse 8
प्रभु चरित्र सुनिबे को रसिया।
राम लखन सीता मन बसिया॥
prabhu caritra sunibe ko rasiyā / rāma lakhana sītā mana basiyā
You delight in hearing the Lord's story; Rama, Lakshmana and Sita live in your heart.
A mark of real devotion: never bored by the same story, because the people in it are already living inside you.
Verse 9
सूक्ष्म रूप धरि सियहिं दिखावा।
बिकट रूप धरि लंक जरावा॥
sūkṣma rūpa dhari siyahiṁ dikhāvā / bikaṭa rūpa dhari laṅka jarāvā
You took a tiny form to appear before Sita, and a fearsome form to burn Lanka.
Power that adjusts to the situation. Small and unthreatening when reassurance is needed in Ashok Vatika, vast and destructive when a message has to be sent.
Verse 10
भीम रूप धरि असुर संहारे।
रामचंद्र के काज संवारे॥
bhīma rūpa dhari asura saṁhāre / rāmacandra ke kāja saṁvāre
Taking a mighty form you destroyed the demons and set Rama's work in order.
Force as an instrument of a larger purpose. The destruction is framed as service, not as an end in itself.
Verse 11
लाय सजीवन लखन जियाये।
श्रीरघुबीर हरषि उर लाये॥
lāya sajīvana lakhana jiyāye / śrīraghubīra haraṣi ura lāye
You brought the Sanjivani herb and revived Lakshmana; the hero of the Raghus joyfully held you to his chest.
When he could not identify the herb, he carried the whole mountain. Devotion that acts decisively under pressure earns closeness, and the embrace is the reward.
Verse 12
रघुपति कीन्ही बहुत बड़ाई।
तुम मम प्रिय भरतहि सम भाई॥
raghupati kīnhī bahuta baṛāī / tuma mama priya bharatahi sama bhāī
Rama praised you greatly and said: you are as dear to me as my brother Bharata.
The highest honour in the text. The one you serve counts you as family, and names a specific brother to make the comparison exact.
Verse 13
सहस बदन तुम्हरो जस गावैं।
अस कहि श्रीपति कंठ लगावैं॥
sahasa badana tumharo jasa gāvaiṁ / asa kahi śrīpati kaṇṭha lagāvaiṁ
"May the thousand-mouthed one sing your glory," and saying this the Lord of Sri embraces you.
The thousand-mouthed one is Shesha, the cosmic serpent. Even a thousand tongues could not finish the praise, which is the point of the image.
Verse 14
सनकादिक ब्रह्मादि मुनीसा।
नारद सारद सहित अहीसा॥
sanakādika brahmādi munīsā / nārada sārada sahita ahīsā
The sages Sanaka and his brothers, Brahma and the other great sages, along with Narada, Saraswati and the king of serpents...
The sentence runs on into verse 15. It is a roll-call of the highest beings in the tradition, assembled so the next line can say even they fall short.
Verse 15
जम कुबेर दिगपाल जहां ते।
कबि कोबिद कहि सके कहां ते॥
jama kubera digapāla jahāṁ te / kabi kobida kahi sake kahāṁ te
...Yama, Kubera and the guardians of the directions. Where, then, would poets and scholars find the words to describe you?
The beings who govern death, wealth and space cannot praise him adequately, so an ordinary poet has no chance. This is a humility formula, and it is also honest about the limits of language.
Verse 16
तुम उपकार सुग्रीवहिं कीन्हा।
राम मिलाय राज पद दीन्हा॥
tuma upakāra sugrīvahiṁ kīnhā / rāma milāya rāja pada dīnhā
You did Sugriva a great service: by introducing him to Rama you secured him the throne.
The right introduction at the right moment changes a life. Hanuman is cast as the one who makes the connection, not the one who takes the credit.
Verse 17
तुम्हरो मंत्र बिभीषन माना।
लंकेस्वर भए सब जग जाना॥
tumharo mantra bibhīṣana mānā / laṅkeśvara bhae saba jaga jānā
Vibhishana took your advice and became the lord of Lanka; the whole world knows this.
Counsel that is actually accepted raises a person up, and here the result is public and permanent. The pairing with verse 16 makes a small theme: Hanuman changes outcomes through others.
Verse 18
जुग सहस्र जोजन पर भानू।
लील्यो ताहि मधुर फल जानू॥
juga sahasra jojana para bhānū / līlyo tāhi madhura phala jānū
The sun stands thousands of yojanas away, yet you swallowed it, taking it for a sweet fruit.
The reference is to the child Hanuman leaping at the sun. An almost unreachable distance becomes trivial for a mind that does not entertain the possibility of failure. The line is praise, not a distance measurement.
Verse 19
प्रभु मुद्रिका मेलि मुख माहीं।
जलधि लांघि गये अचरज नाहीं॥
prabhu mudrikā meli mukha māhīṁ / jaladhi lāṁghi gaye acaraja nāhīṁ
Holding the Lord's ring in your mouth, you leapt across the ocean; there is no wonder in that.
"No wonder in that" is the key phrase. When you carry something of God with you, the impossible stops being remarkable.
Verse 20
दुर्गम काज जगत के जेते।
सुगम अनुग्रह तुम्हरे तेते॥
durgama kāja jagata ke jete / sugama anugraha tumhare tete
However many tasks in the world are hard to do, all of them become easy through your grace.
The practical centre of the hymn. It does not promise that obstacles vanish, but that their difficulty drops when his grace is present.
Verse 21
राम दुआरे तुम रखवारे।
होत न आज्ञा बिनु पैसारे॥
rāma duāre tuma rakhavāre / hota na ājñā binu paisāre
You are the guard at Rama's door; no one enters without your permission.
Access to the Lord runs through the servant. In devotional logic this is why you approach Hanuman first.
Verse 22
सब सुख लहै तुम्हारी सरना।
तुम रक्षक काहू को डर ना॥
saba sukha lahai tumhārī saranā / tuma rakṣaka kāhū ko ḍara nā
All happiness is found in your shelter; with you as protector there is nothing to fear.
Refuge removes fear less by removing danger and more by removing the sense of facing it alone.
Verse 23
आपन तेज सम्हारो आपै।
तीनों लोक हांक तें कांपै॥
āpana teja samhāro āpai / tīnoṁ loka hāṁka teṁ kāṁpai
Only you can hold your own power in check; at your roar the three worlds tremble.
The restraint is itself an act of strength. A being who has to consciously contain his force is more impressive than one who simply uses it.
Verse 24
भूत पिसाच निकट नहिं आवै।
महाबीर जब नाम सुनावै॥
bhūta pisāca nikaṭa nahiṁ āvai / mahābīra jaba nāma sunāvai
Ghosts and evil spirits do not come near when the name of Mahavira is spoken aloud.
The name itself is treated as protective. In practical terms, a frightened or disturbed mind is steadied by having something firm to repeat.
Verse 25
नासै रोग हरै सब पीरा।
जपत निरंतर हनुमत बीरा॥
nāsai roga harai saba pīrā / japata nirantara hanumata bīrā
Disease is destroyed and every pain removed by the constant repetition of "brave Hanuman."
The word nirantara, without a break, carries the weight. This is repetition as a sustained discipline, not an occasional prayer.
Verse 26
संकट तें हनुमान छुड़ावै।
मन क्रम बचन ध्यान जो लावै॥
saṅkaṭa teṁ hanumāna chuṛāvai / mana krama bacana dhyāna jo lāvai
Hanuman frees from crisis anyone who fixes attention on him in thought, deed and speech.
The condition is alignment. Mind, action and words all pointed the same way, not devotion in one channel and contradiction in the others.
Verse 27
सब पर राम तपस्वी राजा।
तिन के काज सकल तुम साजा॥
saba para rāma tapasvī rājā / tina ke kāja sakala tuma sājā
Rama, the ascetic king, rules over all; and you carry out every one of his tasks.
Hanuman's agency is real but it operates under a higher authority. The hymn keeps returning to this so the power never becomes an end in itself.
Verse 28
और मनोरथ जो कोई लावै।
सोइ अमित जीवन फल पावै॥
aura manoratha jo koī lāvai / soi amita jīvana phala pāvai
Whoever brings any other wish also obtains its fruit, without limit, for as long as they live.
The word "other" matters. Beyond the spiritual aims already covered, ordinary desires are also allowed through the door.
Verse 29
चारों जुग परताप तुम्हारा।
है परसिद्ध जगत उजियारा॥
cāroṁ juga paratāpa tumhārā / hai parasiddha jagata ujiyārā
Your glory runs through all four ages; it is renowned and it lights up the world.
Not a power tied to one era. The four yugas span the whole cycle of time, and his presence is constant across them.
Verse 30
साधु-संत के तुम रखवारे।
असुर निकंदन राम दुलारे॥
sādhu-santa ke tuma rakhavāre / asura nikandana rāma dulāre
You protect the holy and the good, you destroy the demonic, and you are dear to Rama.
One force with two faces. Shelter for the sincere, destruction for the predatory. The two are not in tension; they are the same commitment seen from two sides.
Verse 31
अष्ट सिद्धि नौ निधि के दाता।
अस बर दीन जानकी माता॥
aṣṭa siddhi nau nidhi ke dātā / asa bara dīna jānakī mātā
Giver of the eight powers and the nine treasures; this boon was granted to you by Mother Janaki.
His ability to bless others is itself something he received. Sita gave him the boon, and he passes it on. Nothing in the chain originates with him alone.
Verse 32
राम रसायन तुम्हरे पासा।
सदा रहो रघुपति के दासा॥
rāma rasāyana tumhare pāsā / sadā raho raghupati ke dāsā
You hold the elixir of Rama's name; may you remain forever the servant of the Lord of the Raghus.
The greatest wealth he guards is the Name. And the state he is wished into is not lordship but permanent servanthood, which the hymn treats as the higher position.
Verse 33
तुम्हरे भजन राम को पावै।
जनम-जनम के दुख बिसरावै॥
tumhare bhajana rāma ko pāvai / janama-janama ke dukha bisarāvai
Through devotion to you one reaches Rama and forgets the sorrows of birth after birth.
Hanuman is the bridge. Worship of the servant leads to the master, and it ends the long accumulated grief of many lifetimes.
Verse 34
अन्तकाल रघुबर पुर जाई।
जहां जन्म हरि-भक्त कहाई॥
antakāla raghubara pura jāī / jahāṁ janma hari-bhakta kahāī
At the end of life one goes to Rama's abode; and wherever one is born, one is known as a devotee of Hari.
The benefit carries past death. Either liberation, or failing that, a next birth already oriented toward God rather than starting from zero.
Verse 35
और देवता चित्त न धरई।
हनुमत सेइ सर्ब सुख करई॥
aura devatā citta na dharaī / hanumata sei sarba sukha karaī
Even holding no other deity in mind, serving Hanuman alone brings every happiness.
Not an argument against other deities. It is a statement that this single, undivided devotion is complete in itself and needs no supplement.
Verse 36
संकट कटै मिटै सब पीरा।
जो सुमिरै हनुमत बलबीरा॥
saṅkaṭa kaṭai miṭai saba pīrā / jo sumirai hanumata balabīrā
Crisis is cut away and all pain erased for whoever remembers the strong and brave Hanuman.
Close to a repeat of verse 25, and that is intentional. The hymn circles back to its central promise so it lands twice.
Verse 37
जै जै जै हनुमान गोसाईं।
कृपा करहु गुरुदेव की नाईं॥
jai jai jai hanumāna gosāīṁ / kṛpā karahu gurudeva kī nāīṁ
Victory, victory, victory to Lord Hanuman. Show me grace, the way my Guru does.
Hanuman is now addressed as a Guru. The role is not only to remove trouble but to remove ignorance, which links back to the opening doha.
Verse 38
जो सत बार पाठ कर कोई।
छूटहि बंदि महा सुख होई॥
jo sata bāra pāṭha kara koī / chūṭahi bandi mahā sukha hoī
Whoever recites this a hundred times is released from bondage and comes to great joy.
Bondage is read on two levels: literal confinement, and the deeper confinement of the ego. The number is traditional and not meant to be exact.
Verse 39
जो यह पढ़ै हनुमान चालीसा।
होय सिद्धि साखी गौरीसा॥
jo yaha paṛai hanumāna cālīsā / hoya siddhi sākhī gaurīsā
Whoever reads this Hanuman Chalisa attains success; Shiva himself is witness to it.
Tulsidas stakes the promise on the testimony of Shiva, the lord of Gauri. It is the strongest guarantee he can offer for the text.
Verse 40
तुलसीदास सदा हरि चेरा।
कीजै नाथ हृदय मंह डेरा॥
tulasīdāsa sadā hari cerā / kījai nātha hṛdaya maṁha ḍerā
Tulsidas is forever the servant of Hari; O Lord, make your home in my heart.
The poet signs the work and makes the only request that matters to him: not a gift, but the permanent residence of the divine within.
Closing Doha
पवनतनय संकट हरन, मंगल मूरति रूप।
राम लखन सीता सहित, हृदय बसहु सुर भूप॥
pavanatanaya saṅkaṭa harana, maṅgala mūrati rūpa / rāma lakhana sītā sahita, hṛdaya basahu sura bhūpa
Son of the Wind, remover of distress, embodiment of all that is auspicious: dwell in my heart, O king among gods, together with Rama, Lakshmana and Sita.
The hymn closes where it began, in the second opening doha. It does not ask for outcomes. It asks for presence, and it asks that the presence be the whole family, not Hanuman alone.
There is no single correct method, and the tradition is relaxed about this. What follows is the common practice, not a rulebook.
The Hanuman Chalisa was composed by the poet-saint Tulsidas in the 16th century. It is written in Awadhi, an eastern Hindi dialect, not in Sanskrit. Tulsidas also wrote the Ramcharitmanas, the Awadhi retelling of the Ramayana, and he signs the Chalisa in its final verse with the words "Tulsidas sada Hari chera", meaning Tulsidas is forever the servant of Hari.
Chalisa comes from chalis, the Hindi word for forty, and refers to the forty chaupais, or four-line verses, that form the main body of the hymn. Along with those forty verses there are two dohas, or couplets, at the start and one doha at the end, so the complete text runs to forty-three verses.
The line says the sun sits "juga sahasra jojana" away, yet the child Hanuman leapt toward it thinking it was a sweet fruit. Juga sahasra jojana is often read as roughly one yuga, taken as 12,000, times one thousand, times one yojana. The verse is devotional poetry about Hanuman's fearless power, and it should be read as praise, not as an astronomical measurement.
There is no fixed rule. Common practices are a single reading in the morning or evening, seven or eleven readings on Tuesday or Saturday, or 108 readings during a set spiritual resolve over a fixed number of days. Verse 38 of the Chalisa itself mentions reciting it a hundred times. Steady, attentive repetition matters more than the count.
Yes. The Hanuman Chalisa has no restriction of caste, gender, initiation, or training. It is one of the most widely recited devotional texts in India precisely because it is short, in a spoken dialect rather than Sanskrit, and easy to memorise. A respectful attitude and basic cleanliness before recitation are all that is traditionally expected.
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